THE NATIONS: The Possessed

There could no longer be any doubt last weekthe Soviet
Government was again engaged in a nationwide purge, less
publicized, and as yet less bloody, than the Great Purge of the
'30s, but raking Soviet life from top to bottom. Pravda claimed for the
move "political significance of the first importance." The long, grim
decree, announcing the purge, bore an ominous joint signature: Premier
Joseph Stalin (for the Soviet Government) and Secretary Andrei A.
Zhdanov (for the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party).

The Government's first point of attack was the collective farms. The
decree charged...